A FULL Course Yellow system will be used in Australia for the first time at the 2024 Bathurst 12 Hour.
The concept, often seen in other motorsport categories around the world, will demand drivers slow their cars to a maximum of 80km/h within five seconds of yellow flags – or face a penalty.
A Full Course Yellow may be maintained, eventually ending with a five-second countdown before speed restrictions are lifted, or a full Safety Car period may be implemented.
“This is an important safety innovation that will be very valuable for the team in Race Control, providing us with an opportunity to prepare the appropriate response for any incident,” said Bathurst 12 Hour race director James Taylor.
“We will of course deploy the Safety Car when it is required, allowing us to bunch up the field and complete recoveries and ensure the safety of all our officials at the event.
“We’re also pleased to confirm the wave-by system will stay in place as well, another important tool at Race Control’s disposal to keep the world-class race as safe as possible.”
Bathurst 12 Hour event director Shane Rudzis noted the system’s introduction comes after a fact-finding visit to Spa earlier this year.
“The recent visit to the Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa with motorsport operations manager, Paul Martin, gave us the opportunity to observe the FCY process that is used during the race, we had the opportunity to participate in a test of the system to fully understand how we could possibly implement it into the Bathurst 12 Hour event,” he said.
“The ability to neutralise the field very quickly is important for safety especially at a circuit such as Mount Panorama.
“It’s exciting to announce race paperwork open for the 2024 event. We have already received multiple entries for the event, this is the earliest we have had official entries which indicates very positive signs for a full grid come February next year.”
There will also be a tweak to pitstop regulations for the 2024 edition.
All refuelling and/or driver change stops will come with a minimum total pitlane time of 85 seconds, while there will be no time constraints on any other stops (for example, for tyres only).
The race start time has been confirmed as 5:45am AEDT, on February 18.
